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PERCEPTION, ATTRIBUTION AND INDIVIDUAL DECISION MAKING

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Learning Objectives

Define perception and explain the concept of social perception.

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Introduction Perception involves the way we view the world around us. It adds, meaning to information gathered via the five senses of touch, smell, hearing, vision and taste. Perception is the primary vehicle through which we come to understand our surroundings and ourselves. Perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

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What is Perception?
A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
Peoples behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself. The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviorally important.

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Perceptual Process Model
Environmental Stimuli Feeling Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting

Selective Attention

Organization and Interpretation

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Factors that Influence Perception
Factors in the perceiver Attitudes Motives Interests Experience Expectation Factors in the situation Time Work setting Social setting

PERCEPTION

Factors in the target Novelty Motion Sound Size Background Proximity

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Attribution Theory: Judging Others
Our perception and judgment of others is significantly influenced by our assumptions of the other persons internal state. When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused. Internal causes are under that persons control External causes are not person forced to act in that way Causation judged through: Distinctiveness Shows different behaviors in different situations. Consensus Response is the same as others to same situation. Consistency Responds in the same way over time.

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Elements of Attribution Theory

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Errors and Biases in Attributions
Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others We blame people first, not the situation
Self-Serving Bias

The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors It is our success but their failure

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Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Selective Perception People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes Halo Effect Drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic Contrast Effects Evaluation of a persons characteristics that are affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics

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Other Shortcuts in judging
Stereotyping Judging someone on the basis of ones perception of the group to which that person belongs a prevalent and often useful, if not always accurate, generalization Profiling A form of stereotyping in which members of a group are singled out for intense scrutiny based on a single, often racial, trait. Primacy First impressions Recency Most recent information dominates perceptions Projection Believe other people do the same things or have the same attitudes as you

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How These Shortcuts are Applied in Organizations?
Employment Interview Perceptual biases of raters affect the accuracy of interviewers judgments of applicants Formed in a single glance 1/10 of a second! Performance Expectations Self-fulfilling prophecy (Pygmalion effect): The lower or higher performance of employees reflects preconceived leader expectations about employee capabilities Performance Evaluations Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental) perceptions of appraisers of another employees job performance Critical impact on employees

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Individual Decision Making Process
Recognize the problem and the need for a decision
Gather feedback Gather and evaluate data and diagnose the situation Identify the objective of the decision List and evaluate alternatives Select the best course of action Follow-up

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Perceptions and Individual Decision Making
Problem A perceived discrepancy between the current state of affairs and a desired state Decisions Choices made from among alternatives developed from data Perception Linkage: All elements of problem identification and the decision making process are influenced by perception. Problems must be recognized Data must be selected and evaluated

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Decision-Making Models in Organizations
Rational Decision-Making The perfect world model: assumes complete information, all options known, and maximum payoff. Six step decision-making process Bounded Reality The real world model: seeks satisfactory and sufficient solutions from limited data and alternatives Intuition A non-conscious process created from distilled experience that results in quick decisions Relies on holistic associations Affectively charged engaging the emotions

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Common Biases and Errors in Decision-Making
Overconfidence Bias Believing too much in our own ability to make good decisions especially when outside of own expertise Anchoring Bias Using early, first received information as the basis for making subsequent judgments Confirmation Bias Selecting and using only facts that support our decision Availability Bias Emphasizing information that is most readily at hand Recent Vivid

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More Common Decision-Making Errors
Escalation of Commitment Increasing commitment to a decision in spite of evidence that it is wrong especially if responsible for the decision! Randomness Error Creating meaning out of random events - superstitions Winners Curse Highest bidder pays too much due to value overestimation Likelihood increases with the number of people in auction Hindsight Bias After an outcome is already known, believing it could have been accurately predicted beforehand

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Conclusion Perception can substantially differ from objective reality. Perception is important in the study of OB because individual behaviour is based on perception of what reality is rather than on reality itself. It is the employees perception of a situation that becomes the basis for behaviour. Individuals think and reason before they act. It is because of this that an understanding of how people make decisions can be helpful for explaining and predicting their behaviour.